This invention relates generally to circuit boards and more particularly to means for making electrical connection with such boards.
Conventionally, circuit boards have been constructed with gold tabs disposed on an edge of the board to facilitate connection with an edge board connector or the like. The circuit board is processed to complete the various circuit paths, that is, the various processing steps of masking, etching, stripping and the like are completed to make a functional board and only then are the gold tabs applied. The additional processing steps to apply the gold, as by plating, plus the gold which is lost during the plating process has made this approach inherently expensive and highly labor intensive. With the escalation of labor costs as well as gold prices the problem is becoming exacerbated so that attempts have been made to provide a cost effective yet reliable connector system which would obviate the use of gold on the circuit boards.
For example, attempts have been made to provide a two part connector with one part permanently attached to a circuit board by reflow or wave soldering and having a tab portion which mates with a conventional edge board connector. One such device comprises an electrically insulative body placed on the circuit board adjacent an end thereof. The body is formed with a tab portion offset from the circuit board and projecting therefrom serving as a support for the contacts receivable in the edgeboard connector. One of the disadvantages associated with this device is that the offset feature of the tab renders it unusable in many assemblies where the circuit boards are disposed very close to one another or to the frame or other elements of the assembly.
Another system employs a body having a circuit board seat formed therein with a contact supporting tab projecting from the body aligned with a circuit board received at the circuit board seat. A disadvantage of this system is that the contacts supported on the body are exposed and are subject to possible short circuiting.